I guess my perception is warped :-)
f(...) becomes f.apply(...)
matching calls unapply with some various binding.
Some parenthesis are optional: Some(1,2,3) is Some((1,2,3))
optional . so a + b is a.+(b)
colon changes associativity, so a +: b is b.+:(a)
for expressions become, map, flatMap, filter, withFilter and forEach, according to various rules.
def f[A: B]() adds an implicit parameter of type B[A]
I'm sure there's more but that's the top of my head. Of course it's not actually a long list, but none of that is obvious for a newcomer.
At any rate none of this "sugar" was a problem to anyone I know who learned Scala. There are harder things about it than learning basic syntax.
That problem does lessen with familiarity, but knowing a lot of complexity makes me wary of unknown complexities. It adds an overhead which takes energy that could be better utilised elsewhere.
There's a compiler warning against this syntax that everyone should really enable.
